


Candid

by dragon_temeraire



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: College Student Stiles, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Pictures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 20:52:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11112660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragon_temeraire/pseuds/dragon_temeraire
Summary: Stiles just wants something to take with him to college. Something special.





	Candid

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been wanting to poke fun at this inconsistency in the show for a while, and I finally wrote it. Just another excuse for a little fluff and humor.

Derek grabs a few of Stiles’ heaviest boxes (but not enough to be suspicious, who knows if the neighbors are watching), and slides them into the back of the jeep with the rest of Stiles’ college “essentials.” He’d said he was only taking the bare minimum, but Derek is beginning to doubt that.

At this rate, they’re going to have to pack some stuff in the Camaro, too.

The school is only two hours away, so Stiles can always come back if he forgets something. (Derek is pretty sure the Sheriff has actually hidden some of Stiles’ things, just to ensure a visit at some point during the semester. But if asked, Derek knows nothing about it.)

He’s on his way back up the stairs when he hears Stiles sigh, sitting down heavily on the bed.

“Tired of packing?” Derek asks, leaning in the doorway. He eyes the stack of boxes waiting to be taken down. “I hope you’re almost done, your jeep is nearly full.”

“I can always put stuff in the passenger seat, since you’re driving up separately,” Stiles says, shrugging. “No, there’s just…something I want to take with me, but I can’t.”

Derek feels a little twinge of guilt at that. “Something you lost?” he asks. “Maybe I can help you find it.”

“No, it’s um,” Stiles says, looking a little embarrassed. “I want to have a picture of you,” he blurts suddenly. “To take with me.”

Derek’s eyebrows go up. “All you had to do was ask,” he says. “I’m not a big fan of pictures, but I’d let you take some.”

“But I _can’t_ ,” Stiles insists. “Because of, you know, the _eye thing?_ ”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Derek says, a little bewildered.

“Dude, I saw your mug shot,” Stiles huffs. “It was all lens flare, and none of your beautiful face.”

Derek smirks, because _now_ he understands. “You realize I was doing that to mess with them, right? I _can_ control it. Come on, Stiles. I have driver’s license _and_ a passport.”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Stiles says, clearly having a revelation. “You’ve just been letting Scott take pictures with his eyes closed all this time!” He’s obviously going for shocked, but he just sounds amused.

“Well, he never asked,” Derek says, trying to hide his smile. “Though I figure it’s going to come up when he needs to renew his license.”

“I cannot believe you’ve been sneakier than me,” Stiles says admiringly.

“It’s the small things in life,” Derek says with a shrug, secretly pleased. “So yes, you can take pictures of me. I promise not to do the _eye thing_ ,” he adds, smirking.

“Laugh it up,” Stiles says. “How was I supposed to know? I’m the human, remember?”

Derek shrugs. “You’re always nosing around the Sheriff’s station, I thought you would have noticed that your dad _did_ get a decent picture of me. He just had to take it from the side.”

“You do have a magnificent profile,” Stiles says immediately, nodding.

Derek grins. “It just meant that, because I was facing sideways, I couldn’t mess up the camera by flashing my eyes.”

“Which you would have,” Stiles says fondly.

“Of course,” Derek says, leaning against the wall and tipping his head back. He knows it makes him look like a fashion model.

Sure enough, Stiles quickly grabs his camera. “All right, let’s take some photos,” he says with a sly grin. “How do you feel about doing some shirtless ones?”

 

*

 

Stiles does manage to cram everything into the jeep, but Derek has to wonder if he can actually see out the back. Still, it’s not that long of a drive, so Derek just follows in the Camaro and tries not to worry too much.

He really wishes Stiles would let him pay to get the jeep fixed up. Maybe he could offer it as a birthday present? Derek ponders the best way to give car parts as a gift the rest of the drive up.

Stiles was lucky enough to get a single room in the dorm, which is probably why he decided to bring so much stuff. They park and get the keys from the front desk, then they (meaning mostly Derek) start hauling in all the boxes.

Since Stiles seems more interested in admiring Derek’s muscles, rather than actually carrying things, Derek tells him to stay in the room and start unpacking.

Stiles looks a little disappointed, but Derek assures him that if they get everything done, Stiles can enjoy his muscles in a totally different way.

That gets him right to work.

And when Derek gets back with the next armful of boxes, he sees that Stiles has gotten his desk set up. It sends a warm, pleasant feeling through him when he sees his picture there, right next to Stiles’ computer.

Derek had thought Stiles might want to step back from their—relatively new—relationship, so he could experience college life unencumbered. Date new people, have drunken make outs at parties, and maybe even a few one-night stands.

But when Derek had brought it up, Stiles had just nuzzled his shoulder and said, “I don’t care what’s changing in my life. I don’t want this to be over.”

And, well, Derek didn’t either.

So instead of breaking up, he volunteered to help his boyfriend move into his new dorm. And it felt right.

“I should be able to get the rest in one more trip,” Derek says. He eyes the heaps of stuff scattered around the room. “We should have brought shelves, or something. I don’t know where you’re going to put all of this.”

“I brought bed-lifters,” Stiles says, as though that actually means anything to Derek.

“Well, good luck,” he says. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

He gets held up in the parking lot by someone asking for directions, and he has to explain that he doesn’t know this campus, either. He thinks he could probably scent out the Chemistry building, but he figures it’s not worth the risk.

By the time he gets back, Stiles has made good progress.

“I just realized,” Stiles says as Derek puts the last of the boxes down. “That no one is going to believe you’re my boyfriend.” He points to the picture on his desk. “I mean, you look like a model.”

“I…don’t know what you want me to do about that,” Derek says, nonplussed.

“I want us to take another picture. Together,” Stiles says excitedly.

“Sure,” Derek says agreeably. He can ask Stiles to give him a copy, too. “Here?”

Stiles looks around the messy, half-unpacked room. “No way—it has to be perfect.”

“I think you’re setting the bar a little high,” Derek says, amused.

“Nope. And I know just the spot to take it,” Stiles says, leading Derek through the dorm and out a back door. They take a gravel path to a couple of wooden benches, shaded between the trees and circled by hedges. It has an air of comforting solitude, and Derek likes it immediately. “Here we are,” he says, pulling Derek through the narrow gap between the bushes.

“This is really nice,” Derek says, taking a seat.

“Yeah, I found it when I was wandering around the campus,” Stiles says, sitting his camera on the other bench and turning it toward Derek. “I’m gonna set a timer, get ready to smile!”

A second later Stiles is next to him, pressing along his side, his arm curling around Derek’s shoulder. Derek leans into him, letting his expression soften as the camera shutter clicks.

“Okay,” Stiles says, bouncing back up. “Let’s see what we got.”

He grabs the camera and sits back down, tilting the screen so Derek can see it too. His eyes catch on Stiles immediately, smiling big and bright. Next to him, Derek’s smile isn’t nearly so large, but there’s obvious affection in the curve of his lips.

They look like two people in love.

Stiles was right, Derek thinks.

It _is_ perfect.         

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come by and prompt me/talk to me [ on tumblr](http://dragon-temeraire.tumblr.com/).


End file.
